What happens now is that any industry which desires to
be safeguarded has to state its case to the Committee. And there is not the least chance of its claim being recognized unless the Committee is satisfied that the industry is " of substantial importance and reasonably efficient," that the foreign competition is exceptional, , .
and that the foreign goods are produced under unfair conditions, and finally that a duty would not " seriously affect " other industries. As Free Traders in principle we do not admit that safeguarding where it has been introduced has done all that its enthusiastic supporters believe. Of course, a tariff can save an industry, and in special eases—as, for example, where the life of a whole district would be dislocated by the downfall of a particular industry—it is desirable to save it for social reasons rather than on economic grounds. But the tendency of prices in new industries has always been to fall as manufacture became more skilful and more widespread. This has happened in countless instances without the help of tariffs, and it would no doubt have happened to the motor industry even if it had not been protected by_ the McKenna duties.
